Amazing chizzuk!!! [Sorry if you don't understand Yiddish. From about 13 minutes he switches into Hebrew].
Tuesday, January 2, 2018
The Chosen People
לזכות ידיד נפשי ואהובי רבי אהרן ישראל בן ר' משה מרדכי לברכה והצלחה הוא וכל משפחתו!!
Many people today are troubled by the notion that we claim that we are the Chosen People. How can we say that we are better than anybody else?
I have a lot to say on this topic but can't cover it all. Time is short for life is short. But to use the rabbinic maxim - פטור בלא כלום אי אפשר [meaning "I am going to die but hopefully people will learn mishnayos in my memory"].
1] Just because something doesn't fit with one's post-modern sensibilities doesn't change the fact. Millions of people witnessed G-d choosing us. We can't deny the fact that people used and abused their slaves in early America just because we are uncomfortable with that. Facts are facts. G-d chose us. Fact. Apparently, He wasn't influenced by the lefties at CNN or the New York Times.
2] G-d chose men and made us [generally] bigger, stronger and faster than women. Sorry. That is why there are no women in any professional sports league. It is not because of discrimination but because there is not a woman on the planet who could do as good as a job as many men playing middle linebacker for the Detroit Lions or center for the L.A. Lakers [BTW - Is Kareem still playing? WHATTA sky hook he has!!]. Women were chosen in that they can conceive babies [and many other talents such as having the patience to be with them all the time] and no man on the planet can do that. [Also, women can smell a dirty diaper from a mile away while a man won't notice even if he is holding the baby:-)]. This is a world where inequality is an ontological fact [whatever that means].
3] Being chosen doesn't necessarily mean being BETTER. We were chosen to have more responsibility. That seems to be the approach of the Rambam. The Mekubalim, the Kuzari and many others, however, assert that we are actually better. What does that mean?
Are Jews Better Than Goyim?
The short answer is "no and yes".
The longer answer is [in brief] as follows: No, we are not better: There are many Jews in jail. Israeli jails are filled with Jews. Many goyim have never been in jail. Many Jewish men and women have cheated on their spouses while many goyim have not [of course, I would guess that most Jewish men don't cheat on their spouses and we know that loads of goyim do]. We have all known Jews who were mean, selfish, dishonest etc. etc. while we have known goyim who seem a whole lot nicer and more ethical. So no, we can't make a blanket statement that every Jew is better than every goy. Sorry.
Yes, we are better: We have a segulah - a special spiritual charm. We were given souls that are holier than the souls of goyim. How do I know??? I don't. I don't know much. I know my matzav in the bank. I know my children's names and personalities. I know my address and phone number. I know whose hit turned the '86 series in the Mets favor [MOO-KIE!!!]. But I don't know much else. I certainly can't tell who has a more elevated soul than someone else. But the Tzadikim and Mekubalim can and they say that Jews have holier souls than goyim. So yes, we are better. On a pure soul level, we are better. [If a goy wants to convert - he gets that lofty soul, too].
Also, looking at our history as a nation - we are clearly singled out to be special. We have contributed so much to mankind, far out of proportion to our numbers. We have had a unique history that no other nation can match. We have also produced certain quality individuals that no other nation has produced.
Let us sample some quotes:
“The preservation of the Jews is really one of the most single and illustrious acts of divine Providence… and what but a supernatural power could have preserved them in such a manner as none other nation upon earth hath been preserved. Nor is the providence of God less remarkable in the destruction of their enemies, than in their preservation… We see that the great empires, which in their turn subdued and oppressed the people of God, are all come to ruin… And if such hath been the fatal end of the enemies and oppressors of the Jews, let it serve as a warning to all those, who at any time or upon any occasion are for raising a clamor and persecution against them.”
Thomas Newton, Bishop of Bristol (1704-1782)
“I will insist the Hebrews have [contributed] more to civilize men than any other nation. If I was an atheist and believed in blind eternal fate, I should still believe that fate had ordained the Jews to be the most essential instrument for civilizing the nations ... They are the most glorious nation that ever inhabited this Earth. The Romans and their empire were but a bubble in comparison to the Jews. They have given religion to three-quarters of the globe and have influenced the affairs of mankind more and more happily than any other nation, ancient or modern.”
John Adams, Second President of the United States
(From a letter to F. A. Van der Kemp [Feb. 16, 1808] Pennsylvania Historical Society)
“None of the resplendent names in history – Egypt, Athens, Rome – can compare in eternal grandeur with Jerusalem. For Israel has given to mankind the category of holiness. Israel alone has known the thirst for social justice, and that inner saintliness which is the source of justice.”
French pastor, Charles Wagner, 1918, as quoted in A Book of Jewish Thoughts, ed. J. H. Hertz (London: Oxford University Press, 1920), 134.
“The Jews started it all – and by ‘it’ I mean so many of the things we care about, the underlying values that make all of us, Jew and Gentile, believer and atheist, tick. Without the Jews, we would see the world through different eyes, hear with different ears, even feel with different feelings ... We would think with a different mind, interpret all our experiences differently, draw different conclusions from the things that befall us. And we would set a different course for our lives.”
Thomas Cahill, The Gifts of the Jews: How a Tribe of Desert Nomads Changed the Way Everyone Thinks and Feels, New York: Nan A. Talese/Anchor Books, p 3.
And, of course, the famous Mark Twain quote:
”...If statistics are right, the Jews constitute but one percent of the human race. It suggests a nebulous dim puff of stardust lost in the blaze of the Milky way. properly, the Jew ought hardly to be heard of, but he is heard of, has always been heard of. He is as prominent on the planet as any other people, and his commercial importance is extravagantly out of proportion to the smallness of his bulk. His contributions to the world’s list of great names in literature, science, art, music, finance, medicine, and abstruse learning are also away out of proportion to the weakness of his numbers. He has made a marvelous fight in this world, in all the ages; and had done it with his hands tied behind him. He could be vain of himself, and be excused for it.
“The Egyptian, the Babylonian, and the Persian rose, filled the planet with sound and splendor, then faded to dream-stuff and passed away; the Greek and the Roman followed; and made a vast noise, and they are gone; other people have sprung up and held their torch high for a time, but it burned out, and they sit in twilight now, or have vanished. The Jew saw them all, beat them all, and is now what he always was, exhibiting no decadence, no infirmities of age, no weakening of his parts, no slowing of his energies, no dulling of his alert and aggressive mind. All things are mortal but the Jew; all other forces pass, but he remains. What is the secret of his immortality?”
Mark Twain, Concerning The Jews, Harper’s Magazine, 1899
A lot more to say but we conclude: Yes, we are chosen and no - we have nothing to apologize about. We are thankful to Hashem for the special honor of being His special, chosen first born to whom He gave His holy Torah. Rejoice and live up to your calling!!!:-)
Modern Ironies
Rabbi Emanuel Feldman
Modern Irony # 1: The modern liberated woman living in today’s liberated society is apprehensive because modern liberated man who is liberated from any restrictions on his behavior is now implementing his liberation by intimidating liberated women whose concept of a modern liberated society did not include harassment from liberated men.
Modern Irony # 2: This liberated woman, who yearns to have the (imagined) privileges of a man, to dress like a man, to command a salary like a man, to serve in the armed forces like a man, to be a CEO like a man, finds that despite all her advances toward these goals, she is nevertheless humiliated and aggrieved by liberated men precisely because she is not a man but a woman.
It makes the news almost daily: Men who live without limits on their activities inevitably consider women to be nothing more than things and objects, and therefore engage in what is euphemistically termed inappropriate behavior. This is life in the 21st century: the age of smart phones and men walking on Mars — and men victimizing women. They obviously never heard of the halachos of inter-gender relationships.
In fact, those who have no Torah connection invariably attack halachic gender restrictions as antiquated and out of tune with the times. “Bring halachah up to date,” they cry, “bring it into the 21st century. We moderns are beyond these medieval restrictions.” To which I respond: If this is modern life, may I book passage to the Middle Ages?
It would be more salutary for modern times to get in tune with the halachah’s unabashed gender-consciousness. It has always insisted on the separation of men and women whenever possible. Random intermingling in public events, religious or social, is discouraged. Not only during synagogue prayer, but — in many Orthodox circles —men and women sit separately even during weddings or receptions. This is in keeping with classical Judaism, for in the sacred precincts of the Jerusalem Temple the genders were prevented from intermingling, because that might lead to kalus rosh (light-headedness) and irresponsible behavior.
And it is no accident that the prohibition against adultery is in the Ten Commandments, and that gender-related restrictions are the major theme of the Torah reading for Yom Kippur Minchah (Vayikra 18). The Mishnah in Avos (1:5) explicitly discourages frivolous chitchat with women: Al tarbeh sichah im ha’ishah. And the classical codes have entire sections about tzniyus (modesty), yichud, and safeguards concerning interactions between men and women.
All this is certainly out of tune with today’s culture and infuriates many self-styled liberated Jews. Nevertheless, our culture would do well to take another look at these Jewish views. If the fallen celebrity dominos had paid attention to these, they might have avoided much ignominy and pain.
Classical Judaism is hardly misogynous, but it does have a realistic view of the unfettered nature of a man and his temptations. The view of Judaism is expressed at the beginning of the Torah, in Bereishis 8:21: “Yetzer lev ha’adam ra mine’urav — the inclination of man’s heart is evil from his youth.” (See also Bereishis 6:5.) That view is that man, in the words of Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679), “left to his own instincts and in his natural state, is a potential brute ready to devour anyone or anything that stands in the way of his passions and desires, for whom there is no justice or injustice, no right or wrong, no mine and yours [because everything is mine]” — all of which we have witnessed in our times. It is only the Torah and its disciplines that elevate man into a civilized being. “Barasi yetzer hara, barasi Torah tavlin,” say the Sages in Kiddushin 30b: “I have created the Evil Inclination; I have created the Torah as antidote.” Sensitivity training and therapy centers are useful, but without the safeguards of halachah, man remains unchanged.
Is this a negative view of man? No. Is it an unvarnished view of man? Yes — and the daily scandals underscore this. Man’s essential nature has not changed. (See Kli Yakar on Bereishis 6:5.) An unbiased look at Jewish tradition will demonstrate how its gender guidelines protect man from himself and ultimately respect and protect women. (Space does not permit discussion of the obverse: the sanctity and dignity of each human being — kavod habrios — and the respect that is their right.)
We think we live in the enlightened 21st century. Think again, for without clear behavioral boundaries, we remain in the Dark Ages. Which is Modern Irony #3: Our highly advanced civilization is still highly uncivilized. (Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 690).
Modern Irony # 2: This liberated woman, who yearns to have the (imagined) privileges of a man, to dress like a man, to command a salary like a man, to serve in the armed forces like a man, to be a CEO like a man, finds that despite all her advances toward these goals, she is nevertheless humiliated and aggrieved by liberated men precisely because she is not a man but a woman.
It makes the news almost daily: Men who live without limits on their activities inevitably consider women to be nothing more than things and objects, and therefore engage in what is euphemistically termed inappropriate behavior. This is life in the 21st century: the age of smart phones and men walking on Mars — and men victimizing women. They obviously never heard of the halachos of inter-gender relationships.
In fact, those who have no Torah connection invariably attack halachic gender restrictions as antiquated and out of tune with the times. “Bring halachah up to date,” they cry, “bring it into the 21st century. We moderns are beyond these medieval restrictions.” To which I respond: If this is modern life, may I book passage to the Middle Ages?
It would be more salutary for modern times to get in tune with the halachah’s unabashed gender-consciousness. It has always insisted on the separation of men and women whenever possible. Random intermingling in public events, religious or social, is discouraged. Not only during synagogue prayer, but — in many Orthodox circles —men and women sit separately even during weddings or receptions. This is in keeping with classical Judaism, for in the sacred precincts of the Jerusalem Temple the genders were prevented from intermingling, because that might lead to kalus rosh (light-headedness) and irresponsible behavior.
And it is no accident that the prohibition against adultery is in the Ten Commandments, and that gender-related restrictions are the major theme of the Torah reading for Yom Kippur Minchah (Vayikra 18). The Mishnah in Avos (1:5) explicitly discourages frivolous chitchat with women: Al tarbeh sichah im ha’ishah. And the classical codes have entire sections about tzniyus (modesty), yichud, and safeguards concerning interactions between men and women.
All this is certainly out of tune with today’s culture and infuriates many self-styled liberated Jews. Nevertheless, our culture would do well to take another look at these Jewish views. If the fallen celebrity dominos had paid attention to these, they might have avoided much ignominy and pain.
Classical Judaism is hardly misogynous, but it does have a realistic view of the unfettered nature of a man and his temptations. The view of Judaism is expressed at the beginning of the Torah, in Bereishis 8:21: “Yetzer lev ha’adam ra mine’urav — the inclination of man’s heart is evil from his youth.” (See also Bereishis 6:5.) That view is that man, in the words of Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679), “left to his own instincts and in his natural state, is a potential brute ready to devour anyone or anything that stands in the way of his passions and desires, for whom there is no justice or injustice, no right or wrong, no mine and yours [because everything is mine]” — all of which we have witnessed in our times. It is only the Torah and its disciplines that elevate man into a civilized being. “Barasi yetzer hara, barasi Torah tavlin,” say the Sages in Kiddushin 30b: “I have created the Evil Inclination; I have created the Torah as antidote.” Sensitivity training and therapy centers are useful, but without the safeguards of halachah, man remains unchanged.
Is this a negative view of man? No. Is it an unvarnished view of man? Yes — and the daily scandals underscore this. Man’s essential nature has not changed. (See Kli Yakar on Bereishis 6:5.) An unbiased look at Jewish tradition will demonstrate how its gender guidelines protect man from himself and ultimately respect and protect women. (Space does not permit discussion of the obverse: the sanctity and dignity of each human being — kavod habrios — and the respect that is their right.)
We think we live in the enlightened 21st century. Think again, for without clear behavioral boundaries, we remain in the Dark Ages. Which is Modern Irony #3: Our highly advanced civilization is still highly uncivilized. (Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 690).
Monday, January 1, 2018
Rabbi Santa
Rabbi Ron Eisenman
I am probably the only Orthodox rabbi who every year is identified and approached with certainty as “Santa.”
My shul is next door to a public school, and this time of year, as I walk to and from shul, the children run up to me and shout with glee, “Look, everyone! It’s Santa Claus!”
I imagine my long-and-getting-whiter-by-the-day beard and my girth are the two most compelling reasons for the kids to assume I am no doubt the man (in the flesh) who will be bringing them their toys and gifts come December 25.
I always smile, and even when their parents or teachers attempt to silence them, I tell them, “It’s fine, I’m not insulted.” And I’ve learned to utilize the misidentification as an opportunity for kiddush Hashem by being especially nice to the children.
About ten years ago, as a class of youngsters passed me, one shouted, “It’s Santa!” and I smiled and waved.
One young boy dropped behind his classmates and waited. Then he walked over and bashfully asked, “You really are Santa, aren’t you?”
“I’m really not. In fact, I’m Jewish, and I’m the rabbi of that synagogue on the corner.”
“Does that mean you don’t believe in Santa?” he asked incredulously.
“No, I don’t believe in Santa. However, I do believe in helping children. Even if I’m not Santa, is there something I can help you with?”
“Well, even if you’re not Santa, can I ask you for something?”
“Yes, of course.”
“I want to be a policeman when I grow up. Can you help me?”
I looked at the boy and said, “If you always try to help people and be nice to them and you study hard, you can come back to me when you want to go to policeman school, and I will try to help you.”
“Wow, thanks so much, Santa! Whoops! I mean, Rabbi!”
I totally forgot about our conversation, until about seven years later, a lanky Latino young man of 19 showed up at my office.
“Don’t you remember me?”
I looked at him quizzically.
“I’m Juan Martinez. Seven years ago, you told me to study hard and help people and then I could become a policeman. I took your advice and now I’m applying to the academy. Can you please write me a recommendation?”
I indeed recalled the boy of seven years before.
I took the paper and wrote a warm and supportive letter of recommendation.
Recently, on a cold night, I walked to the local convenience store called Quick Check. Many of the local policemen stop off there for coffee. As I entered, a teenage boy said in a scoffing tone, “Hey, everyone, look! Here comes Rabbi Santa!”
His friends began to laugh while I ignored the taunt.
Suddenly from seemingly out of nowhere a young, muscular, blue-uniformed man appeared. He went over to the teens, and with a wave of his hand said, “You guys cut it out! It’s because of that rabbi that I became a cop. He believed in me and pushed me to work hard and become someone. You guys better show him respect, because without him I’d be stacking the shelves in here instead of being out there helping the community.”
I beamed as I looked up at him, and said, “Thank you, Officer Martinez, you are indeed a special man.”
“Rabbi,” Officer Juan Martinez said, “don’t worry about a thing. I got your back!”
Between his promise and Hashem’s presence, I felt pretty safe on that cold night in Passaic.
Have You Commited Adultery Today??
The Medrash in Acharei Mos says:
"ועין נואף שמרה נשף" [איוב כ"ד] אמר ר"ל שלא תאמר שכל מי שהוא בגופו [חוטא באברי גופו] נקרא נואף [שבאמת גם] נואף בעיניו נקרא נואף שנאמר ועין נואף" עכ"ל.
The pasuk says "The eye of the adulterer watches for dusk; he thinks, ‘No eye will see me,’
and he keeps his face concealed". On this Reish Lakish comments that one should not think that only one who acts inappropriately is an adulterer. Because truthfully, even one who commits adultery with his eyes [i.e. looks lustfully at married women] is an adulterer.
So plenty of upright, honest, good men are actually adulterers many, many times over. If you are one of those people - don't get down. Get UP and fix it and purify yourself in the future.
It is NATURAL to desire an attractive woman. So what does the Torah want from our lives???
The Torah wants us to TRANSCEND our base nature and to be holy.
How cool is THAT???
A special Shovevim message from our sponsors.....:-).
Aging
I was once at a wedding and I thought to myself "by golly, I am old enough to be the kallah's father!!!"
And then I thought "I AM the kallah's father".
Every middle aged adult I knew as a child is either old or .... dead. [Another person I knew well growing up just passed on the other day].
But we know that we never die. We live to the extent that we invested in eternal values in this world. That makes me feel MUCH better. I hope that it helps you, too.
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